County Cricket Round-Up - 12th May

Rain decimated the day’s Yorkshire Bank 40 action, with the matches at Derby, Cardiff, Bristol and Edgbaston all ending in no results, three with not a ball bowled. At Derby, three overs were possible, with the home side reaching 12 without loss.

Nottinghamshire managed a rain-affected win against Worcestershire at New Road. The Group A match was reduced to 25 overs aside before a ball was bowled, with more rain during the home side’s innings knocking a further nine overs off that. At that point, the Pears were 64 for five after a clatter of early wickets courtesy of Samit Patel (two for 27), Jake Ball (two for 12) and Andy Carter (one for 27). However, after the resumption, Gareth Andrew blasted 62 not out off just 34 balls to haul them up to 132 for five from 16 overs. That target was revised down to 127 for the Outlaws because of Worcestershire’s poor start and they lost Michael Lumb second ball to Jack Shantry for a duck. Alex Hales, though, played the innings of substance and hit 72 off 41 balls to take them close to the winning line.

Essex thrashed Scotland in a 29-overs aside Group B game. Tom Westley top-scored for Essex with 63 off 65 balls as they made 217 for seven. He shared a stand worth 79 with opening partner Mark Pettini (47 off 40 balls) but Scotland fought hard through Majid Haq and Preston Mommsen, who each picked up two wickets. James Foster (29 off 15 balls) and Sajid Mahmodd (20 not out off five) then added late impetus for the Eagles. Meanwhile, Dewald Nel’s Scotland return wasn’t successful as he conceded 35 runs from three wicket-less overs.

Scotland then lost three early wickets - two of them to Tim Phillips - before Freddie Coleman and Mommsen began an impressive partnership for the fourth-wicket. The pair added 123 but were unable to keep up with the required run rate. Coleman gave Phillips a third wickets when on 64 off 68 balls, while Mommsen finished not out on 70 off 66 balls

Surrey closed day three of their LV= County Championship match at The Oval with a lead of just 115 runs after reaching stumps in their second innings on 164 for six. After off-spinner Ryan Buckley starred in the first innings, it was the turn of leg-spinner Scott Borthwick to be among the wickets on this occasion on a pitch that Durham captain Paul Collingwood said bore studmarks from last autumn’s AFL game and caused occasional uneven bounce. Borthwick ended with three for 41 from 18.1 overs, with Steven Davies top-scoring for the hosts with 46. Durham had earlier been bowled out for 286 as Gareth Batty took the final wicket to fall to end with figures of five for 80.

Tomorrow’s Fixture:day four, LV=CCD1, Surrey v Durham at The Oval

Weather Forecast: Tomorrow will be much drier with only the outside chance of a shower at The Oval. However, it will be breezy and still quite cool with temperatures peaking at around 14 degrees Celsius.